


Empty Nest

by jencsi



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28694361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jencsi/pseuds/jencsi
Summary: Everyday the choices you make say what you are and who your heart beats for.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Empty Nest

1988 Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 

Finn approaches the kitchen area of her parents home quietly, unlike so many other times when her entry was loud and boisterous. She clutches a canvas bag containing half a dozen brochures and several notebooks as she enters the space. Her father Patrick sits at the table looking over his own set of notes for work, likely a new case study for the hospital. She winces as she realizes the impact her choice is going to have on him when he hears it. But it’s now or never.

She makes the journey into the kitchen fully now and sinks down at the table across from her father. 

“Hey kiddo,” he acknowledges her arrival “I didn’t hear you sneak in, why so quiet?”

“What are you working on?” she asks now, turning the conversation about him to make things easier. 

“Oh just some write ups for some new equipment for the labs downstairs,” Patrick explains “we need a new centrifuge, the old one is shot to hell and our microscopes are so dated, might as well give them to the kids to play with, not much longer and I’ll be handing these write ups off to you, doctor Finlay.”

He winks and smirks, so obviously proud to see her follow in his footsteps. 

“That’s nice,” Finn says, feeling herself cringe with guilt, hating herself for what she's about to tell him “I hope you get everything you need.”

“Thanks,” Patrick says, eyeing her with concern and a bit of suspicion in his tone. 

“I’m working on something too,” Finn continues, pulling out the notebook and brochures from her bag, heart beating faster, “last month, I went to a lecture, there’s a scientist who came to campus, his name is Alec Jeffreys, he’s amazing, he works for the police department, well, he helps out different ones, he came up with this thing, it’s called DNA fingerprinting, dad, it helps figure out who committed a crime based on what evidence they leave behind, skin cells, hair, finger prints, biological samples, it was amazing work.”

Finn slides the brochure from the lecture over to her father who doesn’t pick it up, he just stares at it. 

“After the lecture was over,” Finn continues now, hands shaking as she fiddles with the other brochures in her hands “Mr. Jeffreys told us if we were interested in more classes to stay behind and I did and he gave me these, there’s a lot of cool stuff involved, science and math but there’s field work too, you can be positioned at a police station and collect evidence when there’s a crime, it’s called criminology and I really want to do it.” 

She finishes with a sigh having said it all in one breath. Patrick sees all the brochures on the table now, one for the lab work, the police force, the training, the classes needed. 

“The really good news is, almost all my classes from the last two years are enough to keep moving forward in the program,” Finn says “and there’s even a spot for working in the city morgue if need be.” 

Now it all makes sense to Patrick. 

“This is all my fault,” he says dryly. 

“What? No. I just really want to do this instead of being a doctor.” Finn confesses her true desire. 

“You were seven,” Patrick explains “your class had a trip to the hospital for school and you wandered off, ended up down in the morgue, you saw that body and everything, Dale found you, the medical examiner, but you had seen too much, don’t you remember?” 

“Yeah,” Finn admits sheepishly “I screamed, Dale screamed, you screamed, and then I didn’t speak for the rest of the day, mom wanted to murder you but that would have been counterproductive.” 

Patrick smirks at his daughter's humor and is shockingly grateful she recalls that memory and isn’t too traumatized by it. 

“But dad that’s not why I want to switch,” Finn continues “I love all the medical stuff so far, but I’m a junior now and it’s getting tougher but with this lecture, I understood so much, it all clicked, and Mr. Jeffreys gave me some practice exams and I passed them all, it’s all so natural I can’t explain it.” 

“You don’t have to,” Patrick said “if this is what you want, then you should do it.” 

“Really?” Finn asked twisting her hands together nervously “you don’t hate me for wanting to switch? 

“Absolutely not,” Patrick insists “honey this is your ship, you sail it, show me what you can do, and if need be, there is always a place for you at the hospital.” 

Finn sighs and drops her hands into her lap, relieved. 

“Okay then,” she concludes the discussion somewhat awkwardly. She starts to gather up the brochures and tuck them all neatly back into her canvas bag. 

“I won’t let you down,” she says to Patrick as she turns to go back upstairs to her room. 

“Slugger you never will,” he reminds her and she feels the tightness in her chest lessen as fears of disappointing him fade. 

Night

Patrick finishes his write ups for the committee and cleans up the table. As he heads upstairs, he sees the light still on in Julie’s room. A peek inside shows him she is asleep in her bed, surrounded by the brochures and her own notes. Smiling, he gathers up her work and piles it neatly on her desk so she won’t ruin what she’s done so far. As he moves to turn out the lamp on her nightstand, another brochure catches his eye, one advertising a boat, some water, the letters PNW and finally, Seattle Area Field Guide. A small ache in his chest forms at the thought of her moving all the way to the west coast, the ship sailing analogy he gave her downstairs hours ago makes total sense now. Nevertheless, he will have to accept what decision she makes. He pulls the blankets around her better and because she is asleep and lets him, he presses a kiss to her forehead, savoring any chance to take care of her. 

As he leaves the room, shutting the door behind him, he returns to the master bedroom where Karen waits for him. She’s sitting up in bed, reading one of the brochures Julie brought home from school. 

“So she’s dead set on this huh?” Karen asks him, poorly choosing her words. 

“Pun intended?” Patrick asks and she rolls her eyes. 

“Look she won’t be working with dead bodies constantly,” Patrick assures his wife “that's only if she becomes a medical examiner, if she chooses the criminology field route, she will be given evidence to process, to connect humans to the crimes they commit, it’s good work dear.” 

“Yes but the police force?” Karen worries out loud to him “she’s going to have to carry a gun Patrick, she’s not cut out for that.”

“Well you’ve seen what she does with a baseball bat,” Patrick shrugs. 

“This is serious,” Karen scolds him “our baby girl wants to put her life in danger.”

“Well that’s just it isn’t it,” Patrick says as he slides into bed next to her “she’s not a baby girl anymore.” 

“You know what I mean,” Karen snaps “she’s our only child, if something happens to her, it’s bad enough you roped her into the hospital gig.”

“What was so bad about that?” Patrick asks “that’s the least dangerous job.”

“Says you,” Karen scoffs “I remember your stories about drug addicts and psychiatric patients, people with knives and weapons coming at you and your nurses, swearing and hitting and fighting.”

“That happens maybe once a week,” Patrick says but Karen pierces him with a look, knowing he is lying. 

“So the police force is too dangerous, the hospital is too dangerous, what do you want her to do?” Patrick asks his wife now. 

But Karen has no answer for him, because in reality, nothing their sweet girl chooses to do with her life will ever be one hundred percent safe. And it’s that notion that stabs at Karen’s heart. She can’t protect her forever. 

Naturally, when Karen didn’t provide an answer, Patrick changed the subject. 

“She’s looking more like Constance everyday,” he murmured of the secret they still maintained “I was tucking her in just now and noticed.” 

“Well what did you expect?” Karen wonders aloud to her husband “don’t even think about telling her, you’ll ruin her chance at finishing school.” 

“I know, I know,” Patrick sighs, worried about this secret and how long it’s been kept. 

“She’s thinking about moving to Seattle,” Patrick continued now “I spotted the travel guide on her nightstand.” 

“Seattle?” Karen whispered incredulously “oh no.” 

“I’m sure it’s just something she’s thinking of,” Patrick explained “she still has a few years of school left, we still have plenty of time with her.” 

Even as he tried to reassure his wife, in the back of his mind, he knew that time would fly by for their girl, at twenty years old, she was already halfway out the door. But she still visited them, still lived here when not at school, still spent holidays and time with them, and her friends. She was still the same right? 

As he settled back in bed and Karen switched off the lamp on her side of the bed, guilt, worry and fear continued to plague them. 

When Karen sniffled in anguish, Patrick calmed her in the darkness with a soft “She’ll be all right” which wasn’t even enough comfort for himself in the moment but it would have to do.


End file.
